Feeding mechanism for book-stitching machines



M. CHRISTENSEN. FEEDING MECHANISM FOR BOOK STITCHING MACHI NES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 16, 1918.

' Patented Aug. 31, 1920.

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M." CHRISTENSEN. FEEDING MECHANISM FOR BOOK ST ITCHIN G MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JULY 16. I9I8.

1,351,231, PatentedAug. 31,1920.

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dirt-01 21636,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN CHRISTENSEN, OF BACINE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOB T CHRISTENSEN MACHINE COMPANY, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN, A. CORPORATION OF WIS- CONSIN.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR BOOK-STITCHING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 31, 1920..

Application filed July 16, 1918. Serial No. 245,201.

a citizen of the United States, and resident of Racine, in the county of Racine and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Feeding Mechanism for Book-Stitching Machines, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

The invention relates to signature handling machines and more particularly to the mechanism for feeding the collected groups of signatures to the st tchers of binders and away from the same.

Qne object of the invention is to provide a new and novel combination of parts to form the feeding mechanism for the stitchers.

As the signature binding machines are usually constructed, the sheets forming the book are bound together by two or more staples inserted by the machines as the books are fed past them but in these prior constructions the staples are always put in the same place in each book with the result that when the books are stacked atthe delivery end of the machine, or in fact when the books are stacked at any place, the books will not lie flat because of the staples of adj acent books holdin them apart. To obviate this diiiiculty, have provided a feeding mechanism in which, during one cycle of the operations of the machine, one of the books receives the staples from the stitchers at a certain distance apart and in which, during the next cycle of the operations of the machine, the next book receives the staples at different distances apart from the preceding book so that when the two books are disposed against each other the staples of one machine parts being shown in section and parts being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, parts being broken away and parts being shown ,in section;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of F ig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 1- 1 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a detailed view part in section and part in elevation taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

In book stitching machines, the collected groups of signatures are usually fed past an alining device after which they are taken by the stitcher feed past the stitchers and in Fig. 1 of the drawings the numeral '5 designates the aliner feed'which is shown in dotted lines consisting of an endless conveyer running over sprockets 6 and 7, the sprocket 7 being mounted on the shaft 8 which is driven through a beveled gear connection 9 from a shaft 10 which in turn is driven through a beveled gear connection 11 from a shaft 12 which shaft is driven by a gear 13 on said shaft 12 meshing with the gear 14: on a driven shaft 15, all of said shafting being suitably mounted in the frame 16 of the machine.

The signatures from the conveyor are led over an inverted U-shaped saddle designated generally by the numeral 17 Stitchers 18 are secured to the frame 16 in spaced relation for cooperating with clencher mech-' form and construction of the stapling devices and their manner of attachment to the machine forms no part of the present invention further detailed description thereof is deemed unnecessary.

The signature feedin mechanism for carrying the books along t e saddle 17 past the stitchers 18 consists of a longitudinally movable feed bar 20 slidably mounted in a recess 21 in one of the sides of the saddle, means for moving said bar, and means for pressing the signatures against said bar and moving them with it.

The means for moving the feed bar 20 consists of a lever 22 pivotally mounted at its lower end upon a shaft 23 and pivotally connected intermediate its ends to a stud .moving the arms 38. .60

shaft whichis'eccentrically journaled in an end bearing 25 of a connecting rod'26, the other end'27 of said rod being adjustably connected by means hereinafter described with the gear 13. The lever 22 is pivotally connected at its upper end to one end of a link 28, which link is pivotally con- .nected at its other end to a bearing bracket T slot 33 in the spoke or arm 30 and said shaft carries a nut 34 so that said shaft may be clamped within the slot 33 at different distances from the shaft 12. It will be noted that the arm 30 of the gear constitutes a crank and the stud shaft 31 a crank pin for the connecting rod 26 and the detachable connection between the pin and the crank provides for a variable length crank so that different lengths of stroke may be imparted to the lever 22 through the rod 26 depending upon the setting of the crank pin 31 and this feature is important as the feed of the machine has to vary with different sizes of books.

Without taking into consideration the eccentric mounting of the pin 24, it will be noted that with the construction thus far described the rotation of the gear 13 reciprocates the connecting rod 26 thereby oscillating the lever 22 which through the link 28 "and bracket 29 reciprocates the feed bar 20.

The means for pressing the signatures against the bar 20 consists of a plurality of sets of fingers 35 (only one set being shown) each finger being pivotally mounted on one end of a pin 36 and engaging the books at their other end, and a means for actuating said fin ers. y

The nger actuating means consists of a coil spring 37- for each finger secured at one end to the pin 36, and at the other end to the finger to normally hold the finger out of engagement with the signature, and means for moving each finger 35 against the action of its spring to bring it into engagement with the signature, consisting of an arm 38 pivotally mounted on the pin 36 and normally yielding held spaced away from the finger 35 byvmeans of a spring 39 mounted on a headed rod 40 which is secured to the finger 35 and slidably mounted with respect to the arm 38, and further consists of means for The arm moving means consists of a rod 41, connected by arms 42 to a rock shaft 44, and this rod is engaged by rollers 43 carried by the 'arms 38. The rock shaft 44 is actuated by a cam 45 on the shaft 10 through a lever 46, loosely mounted on the shaft 44 .and carrying. a

the shaft 44 by means of an arm 48, an ad-' justable clamping bolt 49, passing through an aperture 50 in the lever 46, and held 1n engagement with said lever by a spring 51 inter osed between a nut 52 on the bolt, and a co ar 53 which bears against the lever. The adjustment of the position of the lever 46 with respect to the arm 48 is provided so that the movement of the shaft44 can be varied to accommodate books of different thicknesses. In addition to the rollers 43 engaging the rod 41, a foremost finger 35 has a rearwardly extending arm 54 carrying a roller 55 which is adapted to be positively actuated by a cam block 56 adjustably mounted on the rod 41 when the book has been brought into the path of the fingers by the aliner feed and when the speed of the feeding mechanism becomes approximately the same as that of the conveyer then the roller 55 is released from the cam block 56 and the first-finger then engages the book.

The means for moving the fingers 35 with the feed bar 20 consists of a bar 58 carrying the pins 36 and slidably mounted in guide ways 59 in a support 60, said bar being reciprocated by a lever 61 pivotally connected intermediate its ends to the shaft 24, and connected at its upper end to the bar 58 by means of a link 62 and an arm 63 depending from the bar 58. As both levers 22 and 61 are connected to theshaft 24 and are of equal length, they will have the same are of movement during the reciprocation of the connecting rod 26, and consequently the bars 20 and 58 will be reciprocated together in the same relation.

The operation of the foregoing construction' is as follows 37 hold the fingers 35 away from the table 7 and they are so held during the complete rearward stroke, and in addition, when the foremost finger moves along the rod 41 so that the roller 55 runs up on the cam block 56, said finger will be moved still farther away from the table so as to properly take care of the signatures coming from the conveyer'5. Immediately upon the completion of the rearward stroke of the connecting rod 26, the roller 47 of the lever 46 moves up on to the high part of the cam 45, and this carries the arm 48 upwardly through a forward pull on the arm 48, and this in turn swings the arms 42 and the rod 41 downwardly,

thereby pressing the rod 41 against the rollers 43 moving the arms 38 inwardly toward the table, thus compressing the springs 40 which in turn exert a pressure against the fingers 35, and overcome the action of the springs 37, thus pressing the springs 35 inwardly against the signatures to hold them to the feed bar 20. During the forward stroke of the connecting rod 26, the levers 22 and 61 swing forwardly carrying the bars 20 and 58 wlth them, and consequently the fingers 35 and the signatures are held gripped between said fingers and the bar 20, the rod 41 being then held against movement, and the rollers 43 running along upon said rod, and at the extreme forward movement the cam 45 again causes the actuation of the lever 46 to rock the shaft back to its first position, and thus releases the fingers 35 from gripping engagement with the sheets. In brief, the mechanism provides for moving the fingers rearwardly, then gripping the signatures between the fingers and the bar 20 and carrying them forward in this position to the stitchers, and then releasing them on the end of the forward stroke and again moving back, and as there are a plurality of sets of fingers, the groups of signatures are successively fed by an intermittent step by step movement from the aliner conveyer 5 to the stitchers and past the same, the movement being so timed that the signatures are at rest during the stitching operation.

As previously pointed out it is desirable to stagger the staples of one book with respect to those of another so that the bound books may be conveniently piled together, and the mechanism for accomplishing this consists of means for changing the stroke of the levers 22 and 61 every other revolution. This mechanism consists of the eccentric shaft 24, and means for turning this shaft during the operation of the machine. The means for turning the shaft 24 consists of a sprocket 64 mounted on the shaft 24, a sprocket 65 mounted upon a collar 66 upon the shaft 23 and connected with the sprocket 64 by a chain 67, and means for driving the sprocket 65. This sprocket driving means consists of an upright shaft 68 having a gearing connection with the shaft 10, and a gearing connection with the collar 66. The gearing connection between the shaft 68 and the shaft 10 consists of a gear 69 on the shaft 10 meshing with a gear 70 on the shaft 68 with a gear ratio of 1 to 2, so that the shaft 68 turns half as fast as the shaft 10, the shaft 10 being driven at the same rate as the shaft 12 through the 1 to 1 gearing connection 11. The gearing connection between the shaft 68 and the collar 66 consists of a 1 to 1 beveled gear connection 71. A sprocket 7 2 mounted on a stud 73, adjustably secured to the arm' 61, serves to keep the chain 67 in proper tension. With this construction during one reci rocation of the rod 26 and consequently the evers 22 and 61 the shaft 24 will be given half a turn, and then on the next reciprocation of the connecting rod 26 the shaft 24 will complete its revolution, but the turning of the shaft 24 does not materially effect the travel of the levers 22 and 61 in their intermediate movements, but when they reach their extreme positions of movement the high part of the eccentric moves to lengthen the connecting rod on one stroke, and on the next stroke the low part of the eccentric shortens the efiective working length of the connecting rod 26, and the. varying of the efiective working length of the connecting rod 26 consequently varies the length of the feed of the bars 20 and 58 on every other stroke, and this of course gives a variable feed to the groups of signatures so that one signature is presented to the stitcher in a different position than the one following it, so that the staples on one book will be out of line with the staples of adjacent books when the books are stacked.

While I have shown a construction in which the stroke of the feeder is varied every other time it will be obvious that by employing different gear ratios that the stroke may be otherwise varied to stagger the stitches of one book with respect to the next book.

The invention thus exemplifies a new and improved form of stitcher feeding mechanism, and also a means for varying the length of stroke of the feeding mechanism so that the staples of one book will be staggered with respect to those of the next book.

I rm aware that the details of construc tion herein shown and described are capable of some changes and n10difications,v and I therefore desire it to be understood that such changes as come within the scope of the ap pended claims I deem-to be within the spirit of my invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a book-stitching machine, the combination with a stitcher, of a table, reciprocating means for feeding books along the table past the stitcher, and means for alternately varying the length of movement of said reciprocating means-so that the binders of one book will be staggered with respect to the binders of the next book.

2. In a book-stitching machine, the combination with a stitcher, of a table, means connection between said rod and lever, and

means for varying the eccentricity of said connection to'thereby vary the length of feed of said feeding means so that the hinders of one book will be staggered with respect to those of the next book.

4. In a book-stitching machine, the com- A bination, with the stitchers, of a table, means for feeding the books along the table past the stitchers including a reciprocating rod, an oscillatory lever, and a pin having an eccentric connection with said rod and lever, means for varying the position of said pin to thereby vary the length of stroke of said reciprocating rod so as to stagger the stitches of one book with respect to those of the next book.

5. In a book stitching machine, the combination, with the stitchers, of a table, a reciprocating feed bar mounted within the table, a reciprocating feed bar adjacent the table, means for conjointly reciprocating both of said bars, a plurality of sets of fingers yieldingly mounted upon the bar without the table, and normally held out of engagement with the books, an oscillatory rod upon which said fingers are slidably movable, and means on said rod engaging with the foremost finger to hold said finger out of engagement with the book at the beginning of the feeding operation.

6. In a book-stitching machine, the combination with a stitcher, of a table, cooperating means for feeding signatures along the table, a feed finger carried by one of the feed means and normally yieldingly urged from engagement with the other of said feed means, and means for bringing said finger into engagement with the books to carried by the second bar and normally urged from the feed bar within the table, and means for moving the feed finger toward the feed bar within the table.

8. A signature feeding mechanism for book-stitching machines comprising a signature supporting table having a movable feed bar in the face thereof, a second feed bar mounted adjacent the table and movable in a plane substantially parallel with said first feed bar, signature engaging means carried by the second feed bar and normally resiliently urged away from said movable face portion, means for urging said first mentioned means to engage signatures on the table, and means for conjointly moving said feed bars.

9. A signature feeding mechanism for book-stitching machines comprising a table having a movable feed bar in the face thereof, a second feed bar mounted adjacent the table and movable in a plane substantially parallel with said first feed bar, a plurality of signature engaging feed members carried by the second feed bar and engageable with signatures on the table to hold the same against the first feed bar, a guide rod ad- MARTIN CHRISTENSEN. 

